
No end in sight as bus strike enters 3rd day in Chilliwack
CHILLIWACK — There’s no end in sight for the ongoing bus strike that has entered its third day and suspended all regular bus service in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Agassiz-Harrison, Hope, Mission, and customers using the Fraser Valley Express.
Unionized bus operators walked off the job indefinitely starting Monday, March 20, affecting the following Chilliwack bus service: route 51 (Vedder), route 52 (Evans), route 53 (Chilliwack), route 54 (Promontory), route 55 (Yarrow-Greendale), route 57 (Broadway), route 58 (Tyson), route 59 (Industrial), route 66 (Fraser Valley Express), as well as routes 71 and 72.
In a news release posted to the FVRD website Tuesday night (Mar. 21), the Fraser Valley Regional District says it has been advised by B.C. Transit that the service suspension will remain in place until further notice.
“As BC Transit, and local government partners in the Fraser Valley region are not the employers, they must respect the collective bargaining process and therefore not interfere with, or influence in any way, the negotiation being conducted between employees and their private-sector employer – First Transit,” FVRD wrote on its website. “We understand the frustration felt by customers and that the job action is difficult for everyone involved in the region.”